Interesting way, simple ...

http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/tvprograms/asktoh/qaarticle/0,16588,478041,00.html

push in pocket door...use in a wall panel setup

push in pocket door...use in a wall panel setup

uh?

where do I get that?

Batman bookshelf...

http://pervivere.blogspot.com/2005/09/holly-shelf-unit-batman.html

and secret hinges:

http://www.soss.com/

hehe and this is massive:

http://www.hiddenpassageway.com/catalog3.htm

with activation device like, place the chess game in the correct position to open the door.

soss hinges are the way to go.

I'm dealing with the same issue for a private home I'm doing...

We're creating the room behind the MBR closet so we're making one row of built in shelves to be a door. What we had to do was design the entire room of built-ins to mimic the moveable one so that you don't know its there.

... haven't got to the hardware yet, but as of now, we're looking at putting a closer on the door with a simple door bolt installed horizontally under one of the shelves. It would accessed from both sides.

i once went to an old college friends basement apartment for a small party...once i got there i was told i could put my jacket in the back room...when i got to this room i realized it was an all brick room where the bricks were extemely weathered down
-i inquired about the room and was told that it used to be a room for coal storage...this said old college friend told me he was building book shelves outside of this coal storage room and knocked his hammer on the brick wall which he thought was the end of the foundation...but when he knocked he said it sounded hollow so he smashed the brick a few times and removed a few bricks...stuck a flashlight in the hole and realized there was a 10'x10' room behind the wall ... being the architects that they were, they relized it was an old coal storage room under the sidewalk
-they blasted though the wall, ran some lighting and continued to build the book shelf on the other side of the wall covering the opening, and making a hidden door in the book shelf...it has a book that you would pull on to open the door.

There was an article on these in Fine Homebuilding a few months ago.

magnetic spring loaded enclosure

soss hinges....use 1 3/4" solid core doors.

I built a safe keeping box into a stair riser/ tread on one project. If you didn't know it was there one would never think to look. It was used for keeping jewels even though there was a small safe in the house. I guess the owner felt who ever was looking for the good stuff would go after the stuff in the safe.

I second the Fine Homebuilding article - here's a taste:

http://www.taunton.com/finehomebuilding/pages/fh_184_066.asp

Check out Rajack (in Brooklyn). They not only do great custom pivot hinges, but they produce the Harmon Hinge which allows a door to sit inside a panel with no visible hardware.

rajack